


The Spirit of Hate

by cottonpadenthusiast



Series: The Oneshots [11]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spirits, Angst, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Spirit World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 17:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17564657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cottonpadenthusiast/pseuds/cottonpadenthusiast





	The Spirit of Hate

Draco sat at his table, watching curiously as the humans drank their coffee and chatted amongst themselves, blissfully unaware of Draco’s presence. Draco sometimes wished he could be as oblivious as humans. It would make his job a lot easier if he didn’t have to see the consequences.

“Spirit Malfoy.”

Draco rolled his eyes internally at the greeting. All other spirits were referred to by their formal titles, but not him. His title was too much of a downer in conversations that it was avoided at all costs.

Hate. The spirit of hate. That’s what Draco Malfoy was. He travelled the world, leaving hatred and loathing and anger in his wake, destruction made within his own palms and contempt swallowing those who he deemed fit.

Draco hated it, hated himself, hated how his hand would extend towards some idiotic human and he would watch as all that was good would seem to burn and perish within their eyes, nothing left but a violent emptiness. Nothing left but hate.

Draco could almost laugh at the irony in his existence.

“Spirit of Love. What brings you here?” Draco drawled.

Harry Potter stood above Draco, rosy cheeks, emerald eyes and dark hair filling his vision. His skin glowed golden, where Draco’s glowed silver, and his crimson robes trailed after him.

Draco sometimes wondered if the spirit of beauty had blessed Potter with a tad more than everyone else. It seemed unnatural that anyone could be that gorgeous.

Gods, Draco hated him.

Harry sat down. “I felt that you were near and thought I would drop in.”

“Check-in visits are not necessary, Potter. Mass destruction is not on my schedule until next decade so you can stop worrying and go back to making pretty little flower crowns and rescuing puppies.”

The laughter that erupted from Potter surprised Draco. What surprised him more was the searing pain directly into his heart, the feeling of warmth blooming in his chest.

Draco did not like it.

Potter shook his head, a grin illuminating his face. “You do realise I don’t sit around and make daisy chains all day.”

“Of course. You also help elderly women cross busy roads.”

Potter snorted. Draco somehow found the sound not distasteful.

“Well, at least I do some good in the world. All you do is cause wars and wreck havoc among humanity,” Potter teased.

Draco’s smile faltered. The truth in Potter’s statement hurt him more than he would care to admit. Despite everything, a part of Draco hoped the other Spirits would seem him as more than his job, more than what he was forced to do. But Potter had summed up exactly what they thought of him, what he thought of him.

Harry was everything. And all he saw of Draco was nothing.

Sadness exploded like a bomb in Dracos’ heart.

His emotions must have been visible because Harry’s expression turned guilty.

“Malfoy…I didn’t mean-”

“It’s fine, Potter. I should go. I have lives to be destroying, don’t you think?” Draco spat, getting up from his seat.

A couple beside them began fighting. Draco didn’t have it in him to feel guilty.

“Malfoy, wait!” 

Draco began to walk away.

“Draco, please!” Potter grabbed his arm and Draco stopped.

The air around him was warmer now, not in the suffocating heat of his own presence, but a gentle, soft warmth that seemed to wrap itself around Draco.

It felt like a comfort that had been absent for far too long.

It felt like Harry Potter.

Draco slowly lifted his gaze to Harry’s own.

“You’re not evil, Draco,” Harry whispered.

Draco swallowed. “You wouldn’t have said that ten centuries ago.”

“That was when we were fighting. I hated you then.”

“And now?”

Harry’s gaze dropped to his dark hand still on Draco’s arm. Draco’s breath hitched as Harry slowly let his hand slip down into Draco’s.

“Now things are different,” he whispered, green eyes glancing up to Draco again.

Something inside Draco stilled. Something else burned. Draco was chaos, always had been. He was the antithesis of want, happiness, love, everything that Harry Potter stood for. Yet those were what he felt coursing through his veins as their fingers intertwined and Love and Hate crashed together between them. 

Peace. That’s what this was. 

This was home.

“Do you know what you’re getting yourself into, Potter?” Draco asked, his voice more full of honesty than the sarcasm he had wanted.

“Yes.”

Draco huffed out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t think you understand. I spread hate, you spread love. You should be disgusted with me.”

“No. I don’t think  _you_  understand. You see that couple there?” Harry pointed to the two women beside them. “They’ve been fighting since you accidentally spilt your hate into them. I was going to fix it but I realised there was no love left between. Their relationship was empty. Now, they’ll break up and in a few years, find a love that will last, a love that is real.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sometimes, hate is needed for love to bloom.” Harry’s let his forehead fall against Draco’s own. “ _I_  need you, Draco.”

A single tear fell down Draco’s cheek and Harry’s soft thumb gently wiped it away.

“I hate you,” Draco said.  _I love you_ , were the words they both knew he meant.

Harry smiled softly. “I hate you too,” he replied and finally, after centuries of fighting, and decades of yearning, he kissed Draco. And Draco kissed back.

And if the spirit world trembled and the lines between love and hate blurred and humanity fell to their knees, frankly, Draco didn’t care.

Because finally, the Spirit of Love and the Spirit of Hate had found peace.

Finally, they were in each other’s arms.


End file.
